


Condolences

by Leni



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Background Rumbelle, Gen, Robin is dead, background Outlaw Queen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-02 04:56:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8651803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: A somewhat different ending for S5.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stillsearching47](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillsearching47/gifts).



> still-searching47 prompted: 'regret'.

Rumpelstiltskin wouldn't say that, after making sure that his wife was resting comfortably at home after the funeral, he had come back to the pawnshop to wait for Regina, but he was not surprised to see her black-clad form come through his doorstep a few minutes later.

In times long gone, it had been he who had stoked her darkness once her mother had been cast away. It was fair that he had become the only person who would watch her lash out and not judge her for it.

"Come to hear my condolences in person, dearie?" he asked anyway, because the two of them would never be friends.

They'd just be there to support the other if absolutely necessary.

In their own terms.

Kindness did not make it to the list.

His lips quirked into the smile that had always made her scowl back. "Really, Regina. You did not go to these lengths at the loss of your husband. Makes me wonder what's changed."

Regina's head snapped up, grief faded into an appalled scowl. "You think I caused _this_?"

Rumpelstiltskin raised an eyebrow. One more reason she'd come to him. It wasn't as if she could air her past sins before Snow White and the rest of her family. "I think you're too quick to bring that up," he answered. "Feeling regret for once?"

She glanced away. Said nothing.

"It's not hard to pretend that Robin might have met a kinder fate if he'd never come to this world."

"If I hadn't cast the curse, you mean," she whispered, squaring her shoulders as if to face a battalion. 

Her expression had hardened, but Rumpelstiltskin could see the flicker of guilty tears in her eyes. He shook his head in sincere disappointment. When they'd come this far, they couldn't afford to regret past choices. Regina had earned none of his pity in this matter. Casting the curse had earned her a son, where it had cost him his. 

As far as Rumpelstiltskin was concerned, she had no room to complain.

"Would you do anything different, Your Majesty?" he asked impatiently. Broken furniture and trading insults and accusations he was willing to handle; soothing a weepy woman was beyond him. His voice was harsh. He didn't care. If she wanted easy consolation, she should have gone to Snow White instead. "Would you wish something undone?"

As expected, a head shake was her answer.

"Don't belittle your lover's choices for leading to his death," he told her, then added more softly, "Some men are meant to die as heroes. It's up to us to see them remembered accordingly."

Regina took a deep breath. "Of course. You're right."

He chuckled. "I always am, dearie."

That got him a laugh. "No, Rumple, you usually are not. But thanks for trying this once."

 

The End  
24/11/16


End file.
